Teachers Mop Up After School Fire (1 of 5)

10 Jun 1969Holy Trinity Church School, Cranmer Street, Burnley

Media Ref: BE69ng42688

This picture gives some idea of the extent of the damage in the worst affected half of the school.
The 100 year old Holy Trinity Church School was seriously damaged by fire on Sunday evening the 8th June. Five pumps turned out and soon had the situation under control, but not before some classrooms had suffered severe internal damage and the rest had been considerably affected by smoke and water.
When the children arrived on Monday morning they found that the Education department had given them an unexpected two-day holiday, but as it was baths morning many of them went off for a swim, accompanied by two teachers, whilst remaining teachers set about cleaning up the mess. Marshalled by the head teacher, Miss. S. Foster, the small band of teachers turned Mrs. Mopps energetically mopped and scrubbed the less damaged but smoke affected classrooms.
A friend had telephoned Miss Foster with news of the fire on Sunday evening, and all the teachers said that they had been similarly alerted, so did not get such a shock when they arrived yesterday. Although the headmistress's room was badly damaged the school registers have all survived, much to her relief, she said. Miss Foster told a Burnley Express reporter "The school reached its centenary in January, but the celebrations had been planned for October. What will happen now I don't know. The vicar is away on a theological course at Salisbury at present." The alarm was given by Mrs. Jessie Hutchinson, shopkeeper in Dean Street, opposite the school. She explained, "I was talking to a neighbour outside the school for some 20 minutes and saw nothing unusual. When I returned indoors I noticed a huge column of black smoke coming from the school and immediately rang the fire brigade. The pumps were here in quick time but windows were breaking before they arrived. Very dense smoke was pouring out but I didn't see any flames. Mr. S. Coulson of 1 Barracks Road said "I Saw the smoke at about 8pm and immediately went round for the caretaker Mr. Grimes. We hurried round to the school to see the fire brigade just arriving". The last of the firemen left about 10 am on Monday and a fire officer remained to ty to find out the cause of the outbreak. The Sunday School had used the premises on Sunday, but had left the building at mid-day.